STATE CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 287, 2 September 1942, Page 4

STATE CONTROL

Ever-Increasing Forms

STOCK-TAKING SUGGESTED

“There is a tendency, not confined to New Zealand, to accept ever-increasing forme of Government control- over all phases of life going far beyond the essential economic control inevitable in wartime,” states the annual report of the United Kingdom Manufacturers and Nqw Zealand Representatives’ Association. The report continues:—

“Is this acceptance wise or correct, and has the time not arrived when a stock-taking would lie appropriate to see exactly what controls’ are required and necessary and what are only a hindrance? We contend that in the economic system cases will l>e 'found where a control has had to be put into operation only to fry and clear an obstruction caused by an earlier control. Thus, instead of the first cause of the block being removed, an additional control is put on to control the effects of the first.

“So it goes on, each one r’till further stopping up the normal channels of trade. Thus springs up the erroneous idea of their inevitability and value. We have pointed out earlier the effects of the import licensing (or control) system on the economic life of this country, and venture to say that if this was modified, or abolished, to fit in with present-day requirements—not those of pre-war 193 S—then various other controls could be eliminated without detriment to but to the advantage of our war effort,” In making these observations the report was referring to the 1943 (seventh period) import licences, in which various additional items were listed as controlled (through the Ministry of Supply), and the scheme instituted by the Ministry of Supply for bulk ordering anil bulk purchasing.